Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Maldives and from Tehran.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1965 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Philadelphia and Copenhagen.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Beijing kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983 at the first Art of Noise practice in a loft in London.
I was working on the sitar sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Avey Tare to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Peter & Gordon. All the underground hits.
All Flamin' Groovies tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Mummies record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal grime hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '80s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a chamberlin and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Kool Moe Dee record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your arpeggiator and bought a sitar.
I hear that you and your band have sold your sitar and bought an arpeggiator.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Alton Ellis,
Crispian St. Peters,
Cabaret Voltaire,
Fugazi,
Blossom Toes,
Gabor Szabo,
Pierre Henry,
Lungfish,
Jacob Miller,
Gil Scott Heron,
Aswad,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Gang of Four,
Underground Resistance,
Danielle Patucci,
Rosa Yemen,
The Blackbyrds,
DJ Sneak,
Infiniti,
Rekid,
Bill Wells,
Alphaville,
Nils Olav,
Eli Mardock,
U.S. Maple,
Tom Boy,
Agent Orange,
Soft Machine,
Ituana,
Marvin Gaye,
Ten City,
Traffic Nightmare,
Ossler,
Q65,
The Young Rascals,
Quadrant,
Guru Guru,
Pole,
Rufus Thomas,
Scientists,
John Foxx,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Lebanon Hanover,
Beasts of Bourbon,
Marshall Jefferson,
Skaos,
Camberwell Now,
The Standells,
Public Image Ltd.,
The Gap Band,
James Chance & The Contortions,
Schoolly D,
Stereo Dub,
Sugar Minott,
Q and Not U,
The Gladiators,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Searchers,
Gastr Del Sol,
Eurythmics,
New Age Steppers,
Sunsets and Hearts,
Lower 48,
the Bar-Kays,
David McCallum, David McCallum, David McCallum, David McCallum.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.